Friday, July 18, 2008

ahhhhh.....

Wow, I've been tired lately! I haven't even had much leftover energy to upload our photos onto our computer, let alone upload them to our blog and actually write an update! But, today I decided that enough was enough. We've had a lot of fun stuff going on lately!

Jack will be starting preschool in a month and we've been visiting his school for a "play date" and for the Meet and Greet. He's enjoying playing at his new school and I think he'll really like going there. Here's a photo of him with his friend, Caitlyn, who will be in his class.

Jack, Macy, and I went to the zoo with my friend and her son. Here is Jack and his friend, Cooper watching the carousel at the zoo.

And, here is Jack talking on the pay phone at the zoo to Mr. Dundee in the Australian Outback section of the zoo.

Macy turns ONE next week and I can hardly beleive it. An ENTIRE year has gone by since she was born. It always amazes me how much a little person can grow in ONE year. She's doing great. She's now scooting and army crawling all over the place and is even trying to pull herself up a little bit. She loves playing with blocks and putting them all in a bucket, dumping them out, and then doing that over and over. Here she is demonstrating those lovely skills.

And, here is what she looks like 3 times a day (after each meal). And, she's even putting the remains of this meal in her hair. Thanks babe!

A cute shot of Jack and Matt on our bed before bedtime. Every night Matt reads Jackson books for a LONG time on our bed before bedtime. Sometimes, after they read some books, they start making up thier own stories and they each take turns telling a part of the story. I walked in the room during one of these moments and loved watching how excited they were getting as the story was getting more and more involved. I snapped a quick photo. The lights were off and the sun was shining RIGHT in our window. I didn't want to turn on the flash and interrupt thier time, so I quietly tried getting thier expressions on camera. Anyway, it's not a perfect photo, but I still love it!

And some pages.....

a Happy 4th of July!

"Month in Review" page of June.....my "month in review" system has worked out beautifully these past few months. I no longer worry about scrapbooking ALL of my favorite photos. I just scrapbook the stories I want to document and the photos I love in my regular scrapbooks, and then at the end of each month I am now doing a "month in review" layout to remember what happened as well as scrapbook those photos that help convey the monthly story, but didn't fit on another layout.....it has been one of the most liberating things I have done in scrapbooking!

A layout celebrating why I love this stage in Jack's life.....

And, here's the journaling on the layout (warning....it is LONG!):

"Dear Jackson...This is by far the most amazing and enjoyable stage of your life for me to experience.You are 4 years old now and I love every minute of it.I love that you have complex thoughts and ideas. I love that you speak so clearly and that you talk ALL of the time. You are constantly thinking. You narrate everything that is going on around you. Sometimes it gets a little irritating (like when you think you need to tattle on every little thing that someone else does, even when it isn’t necessarily a bad thing). But, most of the time I love it. I love how you tell me everything that is going on during a TV show or movie (as if I’m not watching it right next to you). I love how you get into serious conversations with me about the most non-important things. But, they are important to you, so I converse with you about them. I absolutely adore how you talk to other people. You just LOVE people. You want to tell them everything about you (and me and daddy and your sister and your friends, even if me and daddy and your sister and your friends aren’t right there with you). We’re still working on getting you to understand that you shouldn’t talk to strangers. But, you do anyway. You assume that every person you meet should already know everything about all the things you are interested in. Like Thomas the Train. You just start talking to them about a certain Thomas character as if they have studied the Thomas series for ages. Cracks me up every time. You are not shy at all. You remember little details about people and places. It is almost exhausting trying to keep up with your brain! While you DO have a lot of energy, it seems as if your brain is always in constant over drive and your little body is just trying to keep up.I love how smart you are. You daily amaze us with what you know and are capable of learning. Sometimes it is scary. You have always had a love for letters and words. On your 2nd birthday, you were able to identify all of the letters, both uppercase and lowercase. You have always just been drawn to words and books and anything with letters on it. Right now you are super close to learning how to read. You have been able to tell us what letter a word starts with for a while now (by hearing the word, not just seeing it), and you have recently even started telling us what letter a word ENDS with. Amazing. You love it when Daddy reads to you. He has been reading chapter books to you for some time now and you just sit and listen and absorb every little detail that he reads about. You remember that information too. You are always bringing up something that happened in a chapter book that Daddy read to you a LONG time ago.I love your imagination. One of my favorite things to observe is when you are playing by yourself (and you don’t know I’m watching) and you are making up some random story with your imagination and acting out the story with your toys. You definitely get in the moment with your stories.I love how independent you are. You are starting preschool in the fall and I’m not worried one bit. You just fit right in to whatever the situation may be. You love making new friends. You are finally FINALLY fully potty trained and you do your bathroom business all on your own now. You like getting your own water from the fridge. You use a big boy cup now and don’t even ask for a sippy cup. You put on your own shoes (you still have trouble with socks) and clothes and even zip your jacket. So grown up.I love that you tell jokes and you even GET why they are funny. It cracks me up how you make up jokes too. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they don’t make any sense, but I ALWAYS laugh. Knock-knock jokes are a bit hit with you, as well as jokes that play on words. You are just a funny kid.I love that you still enjoy cuddling and you like spending time with us. I know one day you will probably not want to cuddle and hug as much as we do now, so I’m relishing this time with you. I sneak in hugs and kisses whenever I can and I tell you I LOVE YOU quite often.You don’t have melt downs too often, which is good. Sometimes you throw a tiny fit when you don’t get your way, but even that is rather rare. You just seem to understand things when we are talking to you. You understand that sometimes you just have to be patient. I think you realize already that we really do have your best interest at heart, so if something doesn’t go your way, there must be a good reason for it. You are not greedy or selfish with stuff. You are quite willing to share your toys (most of the time). The biggest “fit” we see you throw lately is when you aren’t crazy about the food I make for dinner. You just sorta pout at the table while we’re eating. Eventually (usually) you eat whatever the meal is, but you let us know in a quiet little way that you aren’t pleased. But guess what? You’ve recently discovered that most of the time, you actually DO like the meal.I love love LOVE how you are with Macy. You simply adore her. And, buddy, she adores you too. Her face literally brightens up when you walk in the room. You are very sweet with her. You love making her giggle. You know what toys she likes to play with and you always know where those specific toys are. You are always concerned with her safety. Every time I set her on the floor, you run and go get a pillow to put behind her in case she falls. She is almost one year old. She crawls and rolls everywhere. She doesn’t need that safely pillow anymore, but you are determined to keep her safe. Every once in a while you take a toy from her and we have to reprimand you for that, but usually you are quite respectful of her.So, for me, right now you are the perfect age. You have complex thoughts and feelings. You interact beautifully with other people and your surroundings. And, you are still sweet and cuddly. I love you, Jackson! Love, Mama"